‘Skyrim VR’ Launching on PC April 3rd with Support for Vive, Rift, and Windows VR

The Entire VR Industry in One Little Email

The Daily Roundup is our comprehensive coverage of the VR industry wrapped up into one daily email, delivered directly to your inbox.

Email Address

Formerly a PSVR exclusive, Skyrim VR is coming to PC via SteamVR, with officially listed support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows VR headsets.

When it launched back in November on PSVR, Bethesda’s Skyrim VR was one the first major AAA games to get ported to a VR headset, far outclassing pretty much any made-for-VR game to date in terms of amount and depth of content. And while PC VR players got a similar treat in the form of Bethesda’s Fallout 4 VR in December, plenty of PC VR users have been itching to jump into the fantasy world of Skyrim.

Their shouts have been heard: Bethesda announced today that Skyrim VR will launch on SteamVR on April 3rd, just three weeks from today. Priced at $60 (including all of the game’s DLC), the game’s Steam page officially lists support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows VR headsets. And yes, you need to buy the VR version of the game separately, even if you own another version of Skyrim.

Skyrim VR on PC Screenshots

1 of 4

Image courtesy Bethesda

Image courtesy Bethesda

Image courtesy Bethesda

Image courtesy Bethesda

In our review of Skyrim VR on PSVR, we praised the game’s depth of content, which brought a different sort of immersion to the VR experience. Unfortunately the game felt a lot like a port (to be expected) rather than a properly made-for-VR game. Rough visuals didn’t help, and the game’s heavy reliance on menus designed for controllers with a D-pad made things tedious considering the Move controllers lack a D-pad entirely and instead relied on a finicky motion-based scrolling method.

With Skyrim VR now coming to PC VR headsets, there’s a chance that a number of our critiques of the game on PSVR could be quite improved. For one, there’s hope that the game will simply look and feel better on more powerful PC hardware, potentially offering higher resolution rendering, better aliasing, longer draw distance, and improved textures, not to mention native 90Hz rendering compared to 60Hz (reprojected to 120Hz) on PSVR. With more flexible trackpads on the Vive controllers, joysticks on the Touch controllers, and both trackpad and joysticks on the Windows VR controllers, we’re hoping the game’s frequent menus will less bothersome to navigate in the PC version.

And then of course there’s the generally improved tracking performance and larger tracking volumes afforded by PC VR hardware, which could help with your aim when drawing the bow, make hand-to-hand combat more interesting by giving you more room for dodging and striking, and make indoor environments like shops and taverns more compelling by allowing the player to physically move around inside them. We’ll see how things stack up when the game launches on April 3rd.

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. See here for more information.

Let’s hope we see a native Windows VR version of Fallout 4. It is unplayable current via the Steam version. The controls are horrible and it skips frames like crazy.

AndyP

I don’t have these problems with 8700k and 1080. I’ve improved and raised the graphics settings and used the control mod though (for Rift). You can probably fix it (though you shouldn’t have to).

DM Hates Me

I am using a laptop 1070. It has no trouble with native Microsoft games and is well within the Steam VR specs. My guess is that the stupid Windows VR home eats CPU time as I can clearly see using the performance monitor with it in the background. Microsoft should have just made VR a SDK like DirectX and not a weird front end to all VR apps.

Zachary Scott Dickerson

So glad I didn’t have to wait a full year! Hopefully it uses hands more than Fallout. I was a bit dissapointed with menus and interaction.. I know it’s a port, but please use good fighting and archery mechanics found in any modern VR game… or a mod.

Sandy Wich

Ouhh… Don’t expect much bud. You’ll never, ever, EVER get Gorn quality controls in this game. Even if people get it moddable.

David Herrington

Here’s to hoping that they enable a “Fus ro dah” voice command through your mic!

actually if you run Voice Attack like you do in Elite dangerous this is very possible.

Andrew McEvoy

Its coming out for Rift? Like actually properly and I dont need some rough hack to play? Get in!

Mane Vr

yea i hope this means using the oculus api so i don’t have to install steam vr

Steve Burklund

You will have to install steam vr to play this title. Although it is nice for Bethesda to release a Rift and Windows AR headsets with full support. I haven’t played F4 vr on the rift but my friends say that it is far less desirable to play than natively on the vive.

Raphael

It’s not nice to play even on the Vive. A whole bunch of graphics and performance issues. I tried one of the fixes circulating youtube and it made no real difference.

Jim Young

205 hours of nice and counting.

Raphael

You either have a very low standard for graphics or you fixed it with various tricks and mods.

Mane Vr

O then i will be skipping this game I’ll wait for the next big aaa port to vr

antonio mora

Never tought I’ll be playing Skyrim VR before RE7 VR on PC.

Sandy Wich

Don’t put ur faith in video game developers, none of them have passion anymore. It’s all money.

You won’t ever see RE7VR unless they figure it’s worth the short term investment.

Bryan Ischo

Yeah, everyone should just spend their money working for you for free. I mean they’re going to work for you for free anyway since you just pirate their shit, so might as well make it official right? You’ll still whine that people working for you for free don’t do good enough work though.

Sandy Wich

I bought Skyrim on Console and PC. They got their money.

The rest of your comment just wasn’t thinking and being mad, while not making a point beyond my first answer, soo… Yea, have a good one.

I’d have agreed with you years ago until I started seeing casinos in cut content video games sold for full price to the market.

Do you think anyone working on those games have real passion or love for video games? So much so that they’d support in it’s own destruction and abuse of it’s consumers?

You want to know who’s passionate in the video game industry right now? People who quit and go Indy.

Luke

please ask the developers if they fixed the bow and arrow system.

Gary Pitts

What is the issue with the bow and arrow system? I tried looking into it but all i can find are issues caused by the psvr’s tracking system.

Luke

will fallout 4 vr be compatible with oculus rift TBA?

AndyP

It is, but you need a mod for the controls (or you’ll be wanting to throw them at a wall after a while).

Dave Graham

Don’t do it, wait until Beth sorts themselves out and releases an official Rift version. These fellow Rifters throwing money at the game when we’re not even supported is part of the problem. DO NOT support a company that with-holds a Rift version, otherwise what are we teaching them?

Mythos88

I hope they improved it beyond the PSVR version, if it is done right this could be a very positive step for VR. Good to see they support all PCVR platforms

Tammy

Google is paying to people of each age 99 dollars/hr to complete few services from a laptop … Work only for few period of time daily and enjoy greater time with your relatives .. Any one can do this opportunity!!this Sunday I purchased a great new Fiat Multipla after I been making $21683 last month .it’s certainly nicest-job however you could now not forgive yourself if you do not test it.!sh942a:=>=>> http://GoogleCityEarnMoneyOnline/get/cash/$99/hr… ♥o♥♥n♥♥♥u♥x♥r♥♥y♥v♥♥♥r♥c♥♥♥w♥♥p♥g♥♥♥r♥♥♥s♥♥♥h♥x♥♥h♥a♥♥♥m♥r♥♥♥z♥♥e♥v♥♥♥d♥♥j:::!wf183o:uwudch

Dave Graham

Ok this sentence pisses me off.

“And while PC VR players got a similar treat in the form of Bethesda’s Fallout 4 VR in December”

PC Vive user’s did, Rifters have to mess around with files and download a ton of mods to get this game working. Rift user’s are still waiting for a proper version we/they don’t have to fudge up to the eyeballs to get working to a decent degree.. Get it right please.

Raphael

I’m a vive user and I didn’t get a treat. Fallout 4 is a broken piece of crap. Tried it again last week to see if the blurry graphics had been fixed? No.

AndyP

Mods are available to fix the graphics, they work a treat. Although we shouldn’t need them for graphics or controls – get your act together Bethesda!

Raphael

I tried with the TXAA disabled and the properties scaling thing but it just made everything jaggy and shimmery.

Jim Young

I leave txaa on but use adjusted values in the .ini file with 1.0 ss in game and 1.5 ss in steamVR. looks good to me.

Raphael

I will try the same settings/ Thanks!

Bryan Ischo

Raphael — I agree with you! I was so disappointed in Fallout 4 VR. The controls are awful, and the visuals are just a blurry, pixellated, ugly mess.

I also tried modding it with better textures and decluttering and performance improvement mods etc. But it’s such a pain in the rear to even install those mods, and they did so little (aside from the Darker Nights mod which made the nights so dark I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face, and one of the weather mods that just made the sky pink all the time) that it was not worth it at all.

But hey – you should be happy with the smooth motion option right? I slid all over new Boston and didn’t feel any queasiness.

Raphael

I do like the smooth locomotion. I would have gotten a refund had I purchased on steam but I thought I’d save money and buy it on sale elsewhere. I did buy Doom VFR on steam and got a refund on that because of the various issues. At least they apparently fixed the doom issues later.

I remember reading that there was a fix for that you could get a fair while ago :)

antonio mora

For me the file downloading and messing with was well worth the trouble for a game that is not Rift supported in the first place. L. A. Noire on the other hand runs terrible on the Rift and there is nothing you can do about it.

Sandy Wich

It was never about getting it right, it’s about narciccistic lunatics offended cus they tried to ruin Oculus and failed. Then when the company didn’t get it’s way, it punished that display device’s community for it.

This is why I’m pirating SkyrimVR off the grid. No statistics.

Bryan Ischo

People will say anything to justify their piracy of software. Just admit it, you prefer to rip other people’s work off than pay for it. I mean obviously it has value to you otherwise you wouldn’t even pirate it. You just don’t want to pay.

Pablo C

Skyrim is debatable, but in the case of Fallout VR, I think Rifters have all the right to pirate it, since the reasons for not making it compatible with them are idiotic and definitly by far, not their fault.

Bryan Ischo

Nope. If someone makes something that you can’t use, that doesn’t mean that you have the right to pirate it. What you have the right to do is, go buy some other product.

Pablo C

I´m not talking about the law, since it changes between countries, I´m talking about what is morally right, based on the Humans Rights Declaration.

Bryan Ischo

So am I.

Dave Graham

I wasn’t aware that option was available. By all means message me with info.

oompah

I enjoyed using the xbox compatible controlller
any other thing would be finicky
& I urge these VR game cos. to continue supporting the
same controller

Pablo C

Do you really think VR is better done with an xbox controller? I usually skip all games that don´t support touch (latelly).

I gotta say, I’ve been enjoying Skyrim VR on the PSVR *IMMENSELY*! This is the most I’ve used my PS4 in ages, and even with the poor performance, it’s still DREAMY. I know the PC can do better, but I think it would take at least a 1080 to see any great improvements visually. They did a very good job tuning it for the console. I have a Rift and VIVE as well, and hands-down the PSVR is the most comfortable headset. I don’t think the PC version will be quite the winner-by-a-mile version the author of this article thinks it will be.

Pablo C

Except if we could use the bow with both hands. IMO bow use is one of the best achieved experiences in VR.

The Bow works with both hands! I use the bow, constantly. I usually stealth-bow stuff. It’s just as cheap and effective as the old PC version.

I get the feeling a few of you people here have been dismissing PSVR games, based entirely on the fact that they are PSVR games, without reading anything else about them. I have Rift, VIVE, and PSVR, and some of stuff on PSVR is NOT to be missed. It’s really top-shelf. It’s a good demonstration of how quality AAA game production can trump high-end specs.

Pablo C

I think you are right about PSVR, I just don´t own one. About the bow, I heard you could not use it with both hands in Skyrim VR. When I say both hands I mean one for holding the arrow, so your aim depends effectively on both hands (i.e. Holopoint, The Lab). Is that implemented in PSVR? (that would be great).

Sandy Wich

Omg of course it will. Unofficial mod support will make Skyrim 30 of it’s own games in 1. In VR.

But I guess your already suffering that remorse buy having been manipulated in buying Skyrim for your 4th+ time already, right?

I think your idiot who can’t read. The PSVR is the most comfortable headset there is, BY FAR. I don’t know what part of “DREAMY” and “Enjoying IMMENSELY” you don’t understand. I’d have to buy a $400+ video card just to get better visuals. Don’t care about mods. I’m in at least 50+ hours and seen less then 10% of Skyrim. When I first played the game and put in over 150+ hours, it said I saw less then 35% of the game. I’m seeing stuff in this play through I never saw in the last, the game is INSANELY MASSIVE. And who would buy Skyrim 4 times??? I played it once before. It’s a good game but DAMN, there are other games out there. Have you bought Skyrim 4 times???

Sandy Wich

PSVR isn’t more comfortable by far. It’s just simply more comfortable. Stop trying to run a mile for a 100 meter dash. And for it’s 1 positive tick, it loses room scale, honest working motion controllers, access to higher quality settings, resolution, headset upgrades and the entire open and modeble platform that is pc in favor for a walled garden console platform that’s best bet is paying for timed exclusivity for the addicts who can’t wait.

Stop being a fanatic for your toys. Be impartial for once so you learn something. Regurgitating Sony fanatic blogs as objective truth is.. Well… Sad.

Sorry, but you called me an idiot. I didn’t retire at 25 as successful as I have been to be talked down to someone who can’t even word his first sentence properly.

Miganarchine Migandi

Will it be voice activated?
Fusrodah!

Papias

It would be cool if they could scale it down and port it to Oculus Santa Cruz. That would be a great launch title.

Ragbone

I would expect this to include the official high resolution textures, also support for mods. I bet that the free moving locomotion will be bad in some way, probably cant strafe or turn or the speed of turning or something is messed up, such as with every other game like this so far.

dogbite

Unless it allows for mods like the 2K texture mod and other Mod Manager mods, I suspect it will look like PSVR or original vanilla Skyrim. Although you need a beefy pc and a 1080 (1080ti preferred) the original version modded out and Vorpx,s DirectVR with really good Touch support it will be tough to compete with visually and in controller usage.. It will be interesting to see what they allow for in pc graphics, but I already have been playing it on the pc in VR for about a years and it’s glorious. It is the only game I find really works great on Vorpx but it was worth buying Vorpx just to play it, if you have the power and care to spend the time modding it to it’s full glory.

sebrk

I hope they put some real effort in this. F4 was somewhat of a disappointment considering what they could have easily done with a more refined controlling system.